Silken Caste
by Inenubilable Anomaly
Summary: Beforus, known for it's cruel empress and condemning Circuses, has found itself with two new patrons. Kankri and Cronus are forced to work together in one of Meenah's circus acts, and Cronus discovers just what it is that makes the mystery aerialist so alluring. (Co writer- Yukikoinu)


Cronus watched Kankri from his tank, violet eyes aglow. The land-dweller was stretching for the big show, clock counting down the hours. Meenah had somehow managed to get them a show in one the biggest cities on Beforous and everyone in the crew and cast were getting set up for the night. Cronus wasn't too worried about his act ; jumping through fire hoops and then a few high jumps till he caught the trapeze swing,landing himself on the platform before jumping back into his tank with a big splash for the finish. Right now though, watching Kankri stretch was much more appealing than worry about his act. He let out a low whistle to the other over the top edge of his tank. "Damn chief, you're lookin fine tonight. Excited for your big trick?"

Kankri ignored him. He hardly knew the sea-dweller, and hardly appreciated his lewd remarks. they threw him out of his concentration and out of his comfort zone. Yes, he admitted, the black and red outfit was. . .tight. And the stretches he did, his flexibility was a bit- lewd if looked at it with the wrong mindset. But it was all for his act. All for the show.

"It's nothing special, really." he replied simply, shrugging and rolling his shoulders, then bending backwards, doubling over and allowing his fingertips to brush his toes. Cronus huffed at the other before sinking back in to his tank. Why was the other no fun? No matter how often he had tried to flirt, the other never showed interest. Cronus had gained a little crush on him not too soon after the other had joined the troupe. No one knew his cast, but his affiliation with the color red was weird. No cast was that color. As Cronus pouted he got a lovely idea and decided to act upon it. The violet-blood waited till the other was close to his tank, and Cronus curled in on himself before springing and landing with a splash back in his pool.

Water rained down upon Kankri, who went rigid, and slowly turned, aghast, to the sea dweller. "Did you just. . .do that. . .?" he asked slowly, anger creeping into his voice.

Cronus howled with laughter. The others' hair was all sorts of fucked from the random strands that just wouldn't go down, to the positively drowned rat look the other was sporting. "Oh my god chief," he gasped, "you look like a drowned squeak beast!"

Kankri hissed and shook his head, hair flipping up and over and all sorts of ways. "Don't make me come in there and teach you how to touch your toes backwards!" he threatened under his breath, trying to wipe water from his face. Cronus cackled once more before splashing the other with his tail and taking cover in the sand cove he had made in boredom earlier that day. Kankri hissed loudly again and threw one of his training batons into Cronus' tank in anger. He huffed away, going to try to dry his outfit. Spandex is too absorbent for it's own good, Kankri swore.

Cronus reappeared letting out a laugh. Teasing the other was a blast,and he was a cutie when he scowled. Just then he spotted something glittering in his tank; it was Kan's training baton. Swimming toward the object he picked it up, tossing it up out of the water before catching it as it fell to a different location of the tank - This was fun!

Kankri finished his practice in the main hall after drying off, his Areal tricks the only thing to set him free from the ignorance below. And oh, how he loved the feeling of flying.

"Ok you guppies listen up!" Cronus stopped his baton chasing as Meenah entered the green room. "I got you all the best shit I could find and we are going to be rollin in it if this show goes good so," she paused looking around before yelling. "Where the angling fuck is Kankri?"

"I THINK HES IN THE GALLAAAARYYYY" Mituna called out loudly.

"Well go and get him then glub for brains!" she shouted. Cronus ignored her, swimming back to his tank corner for a quick nap as she stormed around, barking orders at all the other show hands. Mituna returned a moment later, Kankri in tow. "What is so important Meenah?" Kankri asked, sighing.

Meenah turned to the other smiling. "Good- glub fuck number two is here," reaching over she grabbed an eel with a rubber glove before shoving it into the tank to her left. "An glub fucker number one." Cronus howled before nearly jumping out of his tank at the other. "What the hell Meenah?!"

"Shut up, as I was saying this show needs to be the best, so at the end of Cronus' act in stead of his jumping back in to his tank, he will join Kankri with his act.'""WHAT?!" Both performers cried out. Kankri and Cronus looked to one another, eyes meeting, then back to Meenah in horror.

"Hes not trained! H-he doesn't know the act or routine!" Kankri blathered quickly. "He-he cant impose on my act!"

"Dude Meenah I'll die trying all that without my tank." Cronus chimed in. Meenah held up her hand to the two.

"I don't give a fuck- you two figure it out how you are going to do this shit, no fucks ups!"

"Meenah-!" Kankri protested, but she had already moved on. Kankri looked to Cronus and shook his head. "There's no way-I'm sorry."

Cronus hopped over the top of his tank to look at the other. "Looks like we don't got a choice. Can I ask one thing though?" Cronus requested. Kankri cocked his eyebrow at him and Cronus smiled. "Don't drop me."

"Cronus, we can't do this. it's impossible. The show is tonight- and you've never done areal." Cronus shook his head.

"Actually chief - its in the ending part of my act before my big splashdown." He shrugged to the other lifting himself to more properly sit on the edge of the tank to look at Kankri. "I'm more worried about you though. If its right after my act, that means I'll be hard to grab because I'll be wet. I'm use to that so I can handle myself, but if you grab me or something I touch, it'll most likely be wet in some form. That's our main problem, chief."

"I can work around a little water." Kankri nearly scoffed. "I'm a professional, remember? We just have never worked together before, so I'm afraid we wont sync up right."

Cronus back flipped back into his tank, thankfully not splashing the other in the process. "I'm a mer sea dweller, syncing is what I do best chief - though we do have a few hours before show. I could have Zahack roll my tank out so we could practice?" Kankri sighed.

"It's necessary, I suppose. . ."

Cronus smiled at the other. "Great, meet me in one hour then chief. I look forward to working with you." He winked at the other before calling to another troll in the back end of the green screen area. Kankri sighed, rolled his eyes, blushed and went off to the arena.

One hour passed and Cronus watched as he was rolled in to the arena. The other swung from rope to rope making it look like nothing at all. He let out a low whistle before calling to the other. "Hey Kanny."

Kankri glanced down, pulled himself up onto the bar, flipped, and landed solidly in front of the tank. "Hello, Cronus."

Cronus swam up the side of his tank to the other. "Nice moves chief." He looked the other up and down. "So any plans yet for Meenah's crazy act?"

Kankri shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "All I know is that I'm not swimming."

Cronus looked to the other. "Why not? Swimming is like the best thing ever."

"I can't." Kankri replied curtly.

Cronus nearly laughed at the other till he saw the expression on his face. "Holy shit Kan." Cronus flipped in his tank in thought. "Wait I got the best idea! I can teach you to swim!"

"No." Kankri replied firmly, walking over to the chalk bin and rosining up his hands.

Cronus splashed the other in the head. "Why not chief? Then you and I could land in the tank for the grand finish."

"Because I am a land dweller, and I prefer to keep it that way. Why don't we work on your areal tricks instead."

Cronus looked at the towering contraption then back to the other. "Bad news for you is- without my performance tank I cant reach, so you'll have to carry me, chief" Cronus declared, smirking.

"Carry you- to the platform!?"

He nodded to Kankri, showing off his tail. "Without my larger tank I can't get enough momentum going to propel myself high enough to reach the bars."

Kankri sighed and opened his arms at the lip of the tank. "Fine, fine- I'll try." Cronus leapt to the other a smile on his face and a chirp in his throat.

Kankri cried out softly as he landed heavily and wet in his arms. He hoisted him up carefully, nearly tiptoe-ing up the steps to the platform. "How-on earth-are we going to do this-" Kankri grumbled.

"No problem Kan just let me go, as long as I hit the platform I can go." Cronus curled on the platform before springing forward toward the silk ropes wrapping his tail in one and his arm in the other. He moved with them as though he was in water. In, around, up ,down. He even went so far as to wrap his tail flaring out the end and bending so he was looking to Kankri.

Kankri's jaw dropped- hit the floor, and ran away. His cheeks flushed and his eyes went wide. "you-h-how-"

Cronus slowly untangled himself, holding his weight up by his wrapped arms. "It's just like swimming chief."

"It's. . .amazing. . " Kankri felt his heart lurch- almost as though he was going to be sick. But no, this was a lighter feeling. In a moment, Kankri leapt into the silk with him, tangling himself a few feet away, resting, legs spread.

Cronus nodded to Kankri before shouting to the rafters. "Hey Meenah I know you're takin a nap up there, drop some more rope will ya!?" Silk, rope and bars dropped with curses- a wonderland of areal activity.

"Come on chief, dance with me." Cronus unfurled his tail in a flurry of movement till he was up on the swing, a silk cloth still wrapped around his tail. "Please?"

Kankri couldn't say no. Cronus glittered in the light, their moves matched beautifully as they Dances among the rafters. They never touched, though, not once. Time was lost to them as the swung and danced- until the lights flickered and Meenah was shouting for everyone to report to the green room for tonight's performance.

"Alright guppies, do yo best and if we make it to night we make it big!"

Kankri couldn't stop smiling, His hearty never lost that light-as-air feeling, and God, he had never felt so free. The ropes were no longer a profession, but a /passion/ to him, and he could not wait for their performance.

Cronus waited in the wings for the lights to fade, as the act right before theirs finished. Zahack would be helped along with the elephants to bring out the larger tank, which tonight would be used in place of the safety net. Cronus looked over to Kankri and smiled- he was giddy with excitement. Kankri smiled back, light blush littering his cheeks. Tonight, his outfit had been changed, the traditional candy red switched out for shimmering silver. Kankri was quick to the platform as their act was about to begin. Everything was in place, his heart was flying.

As the black out came, Cronus splashed into the tank, spring loaded to set off when the lights came up. Meenah made her announcement, a quick introduction, and the lights flashed on. Cronus sprang into action, launching himself across the tank in to the low laying silk ropes. Kankri caught him, boosting him further into the terrace of silk. They spun, swooped, and Kankri swooned. The purple lights caught Cronus' scales perfectly. Kankri's heart jumped. He leapt.

His hand slipped.

Kankri didn't have time to react as he plummeted, unable to grab hold of the bars from the slick water, no net there to catch him- he his his forehead on the side of the tank below, opening a wound that leaked candy-red, mutant blood. Kankri blacked out as he sank into the water, the last of his air leaving his lungs in sporadic bubbles.

Cronus shouted to the other, unraveling his tail he dove toward the tank. Sand had been kicked up by Kankri's fall and the tank was now nothing more than a murky mess. Cronus let out some low notes into the water listening for any change in the tank. Then he saw it a slow stream of red. He didn't care -he followed it. Kankri was laid out at the bottom of the tank- Cronus snatched him up, wrapping him into his arms and making a beeline for the surface. He lept over the edge of the tank, landing on his back to cradle Kankri from the blow. He laid the other down and started chest compressions and mouth to mouth.

"Come on Kan- please wake up-!" he begged.

Kankri whimpered softly, slits on the side of his neck opening, closing and shivering a bit before his chest began to rise due to air and not water. He coughed, rolled to the side and groaned, clutching his forehead- vision blurred and tremendously pained.

"Kankri!" Cronus pulled the other to his chest, tears streaming down his face. "Thank Gog- I thought I lost ya chief!"

Kankri looked up to him, eyes wide, hair sopping and water blurring his blood. "Y-why. . are you crying. . ?" he asked softly, pressing a hand gently to Cronus' cheek in confusion.

"I thought I lost ya chief-that you were- were-." Cronus repeated. He threaded his fingers through the others hair careful of his new wound. "W-We need to get you checked, chief."

"I-i'm alright- we have to finish. . ." Kankri protested.

Cronus shook his head before shouting out the crew's safe word, and the main lights came up, as well as Meena doing crowd control. Cronus looked to Tula and bee boy as a stretcher and a medic rushed onto the main floor.

"Don't worry chief, I got ya..." Cronus whispered soothingly.

Kankri refused to let go of the sea-dweller. "C-cronus. . wait. . I want you to know. . "

Cronus looked to the other. "Know what, chief?"

"You looked beautiful up there. ." Kankri said, smiling dreamily, and blacked out.


End file.
